You’ve likely been hearing both good and bad things about Facebook’s new Timeline format. Some users wouldn’t ever like to change the format of their profile, so Facebook was easing slowly into this new style. However, companies and organizations that use the new format have been having great success with it. Take a look at Facebook Timeline to see if it could work for you and your business too.

Facebook Timeline, the new format to which the social media site switched to last month, is shown as a chronological log of all the things that a person or business has become involved in. It shows a sort of calendar on the side as you scroll farther down the Page, showing you exactly when the post or activity is from. It also uses two columns for recent activity, which can allow more information to be shown at one time on the screen.

In a recent study, EdgeRank Checker studied businesses that used Timeline versus those that did not, and the results were a bit more confusing than you might suspect. 41 percent of those businesses that switched to Facebook Timeline saw increased activity on their page. However, 38 percent of businesses that did not switch to Timeline and kept the old format still saw increased activity. This shows no real substantial difference between the two.

Timeline seems like a big change, so why aren’t the figures showing some kind of difference? Perhaps Timeline’s newsfeed format has stayed relatively similar to the old format. Although the top of the Facebook page has changed to include “cover art” behind the profile picture, the newsfeed itself remained in almost the same format. Users are still able to get the same access to the newsfeed as before, which is what is truly important for most businesses.

It’s too soon to tell exactly how Facebook Timeline will affect business pages in the long run. It’s likely, though, that people will become more accustomed to the Facebook Timeline format as Facebook moves more toward it. This will help with the people who are unsure of how to respond to it, but it will also decrease its curiosity appeal. As it becomes more of an everyday thing for businesses to do, it will become more of an expectation and less of an exciting thing to see.

Don’t know where to start? You can hire someone to help you design an attractive Facebook Timeline page. There are plenty of web designers who are experts at this sort of thing and they know exactly how to use each feature in order to draw the most people to your page. Be sure to look at the web designer’s previous work, or you could ask them if they’ve done any work specifically with Facebook Timeline. Read reviews on how their web page designing has worked out for other clients. It’s worth investing the extra money to make sure that your new Timeline looks perfect. If you can’t trust yourself to do the best job possible on designing it, make sure you hire someone who can make your Facebook Page look great.

Either way, you need to make sure that your Facebook page is accessible and friendly for every person that comes to look at it. Facebook users are becoming accustomed to Facebook Timeline now that it is standard. Introduce your fans to the fact that you have switched to a new format, tell them where their favorite features are now located and let them know what new features are offered. Make it an exciting experience for everyone. These kinds of changes can scare some users, especially the older generation who did not grow up with this technology. Make sure that each of your customers is comfortable.

Facebook will continue to change in the future and Facebook Timeline is surely just the beginning. We will just have to continue being flexible and able to adjust to any changes that the website could throw our way. Although these changes can be scary for everyone, they can also open up a new realm of possibilities. Take changes in stride. Adjustments to websites, just like Facebook did with Facebook Timeline, are common, and we’re likely to see even more in the future as these websites continue to learn what works best for them.

How did your migration to Facebook’s Timeline go for your company’s business Page? Are you seeing better interaction with your company’s timeline? Chime in and be heard.

About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,800,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (87